Snowflakes was established by Nightlight Christian Adoptions in 1997.
It is estimated that there are well over 1.5 million embryos in frozen storage in the United States.
Over 2,000 families have donated their remaining embryos through Snowflakes–sometimes referred to as leftover embryos or unused embryos–allowing them to choose the adoptive family of their embryos.
More than 120 babies are expected to be born through the program in 2024, making a total number of over 1,300 Snowflakes Babies born!
Embryo adoption is a low-cost adoption option, allowing you to experience pregnancy and give birth to your adopted child.
Snowflakes has no waiting lists for adoptive families to be matched with embryos.
Hoping to rescue an embryo from frozen storage? You may be interested in our Open Hearts Program.
Snowflakes has relationships with a specific set of fertility clinics located throughout the U.S. where you can schedule your frozen embryo transfer (FET). By working with a fertility clinic within Snowflakes referral network, you will move more quickly through the embryo adoption process.
Snowflakes referral clinics ensure our adopting families with a safe, experienced, and friendly clinic as a critical part of your embryo adoption experience.
To learn more about which fertility clinics are within our referral network, contact our office to learn more.
Matching is done with the best interests of the children in mind.
Snowflakes allows the embryo donors to gift all of their remaining embryos to one adoptive family. This enables genetic siblings to live and thrive in fewer families, and in families where their existence is known.
Contact and communication is available for potential future medical emergencies.
Fertility clinic donation programs will frequently anonymously divide a genetic sibling donation of embryos among multiple recipient patients. No information about the birth of resulting children is provided.
There are no additional fees for keeping embryos sets together.
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Approaching over 1,300 Babies Born Into Loving Families
We liked the fact that Snowflakes mirrors traditional adoption and aligns with our belief that life begins at conception.
Anne and Bob
Embryo Adopting Parents
We tried to imagine what it would have meant to us if we had been on the other side (waiting for donor embryos) and how dependent we might have been on the generosity of another family. This made embryo donation the right choice for us.
Jennene
Embryo Donor Parent
Embryo Donation has changed our lives more than I ever thought it would. Knowing that two little boys are alive and well because of a decision we made is the biggest blessing of all. If we had more embryos to give, we would.
Jennifer
Embryo Donor Parent
Embryo adoption allowed me to have a pregnancy that I could otherwise not achieve. It blessed our family with two beautiful girls.
Stacie
Embryo Adopting Parent
Embryo adoption was definitely the right decision for our family. We were able to find wonderful parents for our embryos. Snowflakes staff not only simplified things, but walked us through the entire process.
Dani
Embryo Donor Parent
Embryo adoption was the only path in keeping true to our values. We feel it is the ultimate act of love to our embryos to give them life even if it can't be with our family.
Jason & Sharon
Embryo Donor Parent
Embryo adoption allowed us to fulfill two seemingly conflicting desires: first, that our children would be "equally ours" (rather than using a sperm donor) and second, that we could share the whole pregnancy, birth and newborn experience.
Matt & Margie
Embryo Adopting Parents
The educational materials helped us identify ways to talk with our child as they grow and the importance of developing a relationship with our embryo donor family.
Vince & Cathy
Embryo Adopting Parents
I loved going through the education. I believe it truly prepared us and got us even more excited to start our embryo adoption journey. I also appreciated how Snowflakes treated it as a regular adoption.
Tracey
Embryo Adopting Parent
Embryo adoption seemed like a chance to help others experiencing similar struggles to those we faced before our IVF treatments.
Dane & Tammy
Embryo Donor Parents
Donating our embryos was a decision that, for us, was years in the making. Looking at our son we knew that our embryos deserved the same opportunity of life and love that he enjoys.
Jeff & Laurel
Embryo Donor Parents
Embryo Adoption has been a great experience for us. It was a miraculous way to have adoption and pregnancy combined. We had biological and adopted children already and embryo adoption was the best of both worlds for us.
Kevin & Dara
Embryo Adopting Parents
Simply put-embryo adoption is a life-affirming gift that should be supported, honored, and treasured by the human race!
Kristen
Embryo Adopting Parent
We wanted our remaining embryos (our kid's siblings) to have a wonderful life. We are happy to know that they have been placed with a loving family.
Randy & Michelle
Embryo Donor Parents
We could not have asked for a more loving and caring adopting family and know that any children resulting from our adoption will be cherished and loved beyond what we could have ever hoped or imagined.
Sheila
Embryo Donor Parent
After having our baby girl, we are absolutely certain that this was the right path to build our family. We will be forever grateful to the donating couple, and hope that other couples who have completed their families will also consider donating their embryos to change the life of those struggling with infertility."
Keith & Renee
Embryo Adopting Parents
We donated our embryos to give them life!
Helen
Embryo Donor Parent
Everyone we interacted with at Snowflakes a beautiful amount of empathy and kindness. This was hugely important to us.
Tammie & David
Embryo Adopting Parents
I appreciated the careful consideration the team took to make sure our match was the best one for both families.
Pamela
Embryo Adopting Parent
Great communication and support throughout. Knowing that there was a Christian-based organization that was passionate about matching us with an amazing family.
Hope & Jim
Embryo Donor Parents
Snowflakes was recommended to me by a neighbor. I was impressed by how thorough the process was and how many choices were provided to me as the embryo donor.
Amanda
Embryo Donor Parent
After suffering from infertility for years and experiencing that heartbreak month after month and year after year, embryo donation and adoption was a way for us to spare another family from the pain and agony that infertility causes. It makes my heart sing when I see pictures of the beautiful family created through our story.
Jessica
Embryo Donor Parent
The support and graciousness of everyone we worked with at Snowflakes was calming. The gratitude of the adopting family was also much appreciated.
Renita & Tom
Embryo Donor Parents
Very responsive to our emails and answered all of our questions in a timely manner.
Sarah & Rob
Embryo Adopting Parents
Our great hope was that another family could start their family with the embryos that were created during our journey to complete our family. Embryo adoption was the only option for us and we are so happy we were able to donate them! Thank you Nightlight for everything that you do.
Tom & Amy
Embryo Donor Parents
We were highly informed. At no point did we feel like we didn't know what would come next, or what to expect, or waht was expected of us.
Larry & Sharon
Embryo Adopting Parents
Embryo adoption has been a huge blessing to us, bringing us our sweet little daughter. We treasure her! Embryo donation and adoption is an excellent opportunity to bring the joy of children into families.
Ben & Steph
Embryo Adopting Parents
We would have a hole in our hearts if it were not for the hope of embryo adoption that brought us our amazing son. We are so grateful to his genetic family for their amazing gift.
Scott & Gina
Embryo Adopting Parents
The education was excellent. Informative, interesting and helped us have conversations around topics we had not yet considered.
Kathy and John
Embryo Adopting Parents
We could tell that everyone really enjoyed what they did and were happy to be helping their clients. Excellent communications. Our questions answered promptly.
Suzanne
Embryo Adopting Parent
We are thankful that Snowflakes helps us digest the steps one at a time; that this is not a “drive-thru” procedure.
Chris & Shara
Embryo Donor Parents
We were with a different embryo agency two years and they were nowhere near as understanding towards what WE were looking for in adoptive parents as Snowflakes.
Kelly
Embryo Donor Parent
Snowflakes follows the best practices of adoption because embryo adoption results in the birth of a baby who is not genetically related to their parents. Our experience has compelled us to follow the traditional methods we know would be in the best interests of the child, the embryo donors, and the adopting parents.
Education and counseling is the cornerstone of any adoption. With a commitment to working with families of many different spiritual and ethnic backgrounds, Nightlight and Snowflakes are well equipped to offer many viable alternatives to people wanting to provide a loving home to children.
The Snowflakes Program is divided into four phases:
